BloodStained Black Roses
by Dark-Angel-Shui-17
Summary: After a routine mission on earth, the Gundam pilots have come across a deserted city. It is there they find that nightmares can indeed come true, and hell can rise to the surface of the earth.
1. Dead City

_**Blood-stained Black Roses**_

_**Chapter One—Dead City**_

_Kiki's pre-chapter notes: Okay, some of you may recognize this as a revamped chapter of my fic "Slayer City". Well, you'll be right. My friends Akkiko and Laura brought up SC a few weeks ago, saying that I should get back to writing it; well, I wasn't happy with the story at all (then again, I was still new at writing fanfiction when I started writing SC), so I decided to put it through a complete overhaul. _

_So now the characters aren't OOC, and the writing is much more solid (at least I think so). All that was left was to give it a new title that wasn't as cheesy as "Slayer City" _

_Thus comes the completely abstract title "Blood-stained Black Roses". Don't ask where it came from, I have absolutely no idea. (It just seemed to. . .fit, you know?)_

_So please enjoy, and if you have any questions/concerns/comments please leave them in a review. _

* * *

Duo and Heero were driving down the road in a tank. They had just finished a mission, and were now going back to their camp. Quatre, Trowa and Wufei were in the tank behind them. Why they had left him with Duo, Heero didn't know. Luckily, he wasn't thinking suicidal thoughts. Or homicidal thoughts. Yet.

"Hey, Heero do you like cats?" Duo asked suddenly.

Heero stared. "Pardon?"

"Do you like cats?"

He rolled his eyes. ". . . No."

"Why not?"

"Duo—shut up."

"Heh, why are you always so socially challenged?" Duo played with the end of his braid.

"Because I had lousy childhood; now drop it." Heero tightened his hands on the steering wheel of the tank. Yes, his childhood had been lousy . . . but then, whose life _hadn't_ in this time?

Duo fell silent, surprisingly. He was thinking about his own childhood. It had only been happy for a few months, but that had been enough . . . Duo blinked.

"Hey, Heero, what are you going to do after the war is over?" he asked.

Heero was surprised the question, too surprised to even be annoyed. "I . . . don't know," he answered. "I'll probably go back to school. And you?"

Duo suppressed a snort. Heero was actually being conversational? How strange . . . "I think . . . I think I'd like to settle down somewhere, get a job, and eventually get married."

Heero stared. "You?"

Duo nodded. "Yeah. I want to have a family. I want to give my kids a safe place to live, and I . . . I want to make it so their lives aren't anything like mine." Duo was looking out the window, unable to look at Heero, who was staring at his friend.

Heero shook his head. Duo was being serious? How strange.

Suddenly the radio in the tank crackled. "This is Quatre. Look out the left window."

Heero and Duo turned. "What the—"

There was a little town on the horizon. Apparently it was being bombed—judging from the plumes of smoke billowing on the wind, and the bubble-like explosions. But by who? They were supposed to be the only soldiers in the area . . . come to think of it, there wasn't even supposed to be a town nearby.

Heero clicked on their end of the radio. "This is Heero. Let's go and check out what's going on."

"Roger," came Trowa's voice.

The two tanks pulled off the road and started going cross-country. As they entered the city limits, they cut the speed of the tanks and Heero poked his head out. The city was decimated, all right, although many of the buildings were still standing; however, it was apparent from the grunge and broken windows that no one inhabited them anymore.

"Strange . . ." Heero said. "The bombs stopped as soon as we got here."

"Yeah," Duo said below him. "It's almost like someone was trying to lure us here." The two of them looked at each other uneasily.

Quatre had gotten out of his tank and was looking around at the destroyed buildings. "Who would go this far?" he asked, his eyes filling with despair and sadness. "Who knows how many people were killed with all those explosions."

"None," said a wheezy voice behind them. Heero pulled out a gun, as did Trowa.

There was an old man who must have crept out of a destroyed side alley after they had stopped. His clothes were filthy, and his face was smudged with ash. There was a bandage wrapped around his head, and that was grey with dirt and had some blood leaking through. "None were killed. They have all fled underground."

"What?" Duo asked. "What the hell are you talking about? And how can you still be calm when you have two guns faced at you?"

The man shrugged. "After the things I have seen, I couldn't be afraid of these things . . . I would welcome death, in fact."

Trowa shot a glance at Heero and lowered his gun. Heero hesitantly did the same. The man sighed.

Quatre took a step forward. "Why did you set those bombs off? Why would you do this to your own city?"

The old man shrugged. "This city is cursed. Blowing it up won't hurt it." He turned to Duo. "As for why the citizens are hiding underground, it is the only place that is safe anymore."

"Safe from what?" Trowa asked.

"The undead." The old man shuddered. "The city agreed to set off explosives while the adults and children hid underground. They sent the old to set off the bombs."

Quatre paled. "That's . . . inhuman!"

"As I said, laddie, after the thing's these old eyes have seen, death is welcome. Besides, only those who volunteered were sent."

"What do you mean, undead?" Heero asked.

Wufei rolled his eyes. "He means ghoulies and ghosties and things that go bump in the night."

The old man glared. "I mean Vampires and Zombies and other Evil Spirits of the Damned. They have plagued this town for ages since the war started." He started to sway, and then collapsed. Duo ran forward and caught him.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked. The old man reminded him, slightly, of the old priest that had taken care of him when he was only eight years old.

"I . . . am very tired. Find . . . the Slayer . . . tell her . . . that help has arrived . . ."

"Help? From who?"

"I think he means us, Duo," Heero said quietly.

The other pilots stared. "Us?"

The old man shuddered; his eyes closed, and then he lay still. Duo lay him down gently. This wasn't the first time someone had died right beside him, and it probably wasn't going to be the last time.

"That poor fool," Wufei commented. "He died believing in fairy tales." He turned to go back to the tank.

"Wait, Wufei," Heero said. "We should look around for survivors. Or, if he was telling the truth, we should look for the underground hideaways."

Quatre nodded. "It's the only right thing to do."

Wufei sighed. "All right. So, are we splitting up?"

"Not exactly." Heero opened a panel on the side of the tank to reveal a compartment. It was filled with an assortment of weapons. "If there's anything around that wants to kill us, we should be watching each other's backs."

The boys each chose their guns, and continued on foot to what had once been the city's Central Square. From there they parted. Quatre and Trowa went one way, and Duo and Wufei went another. Heero, unsurprisingly, started off alone

"I thought you said we should watch each other's backs!" Duo protested.

Heero shrugged. "I can take care of myself." And off he went.

Duo was now glowering beside Wufei. "Take care of himself. Yeah right! That stupid baka-mono's going to get himself killed!"

Wufei chuckled. "Relax, Duo. Heero is no spring chicken to this."

"Yeah, but what if that old guy was right? What if there are vampires and zombies out here?"

Wufei punched his shoulder none-too-lightly. "Don't tell me you're starting to believe in ghost stories."

Duo shuddered. "Why do I have a feeling we just stepped into one?"

* * *

Quatre made his way through the smouldering buildings that were lying collapsed in the street. He was thinking again.

'_What_ _could be so horrible that it would make people go underground and destroy their homes?_' he thought as he pushed aside a half-burned door of a house. He walked into one room and screamed.

Trowa came running right away, buster rifle raised. "What happened?" he called as soon as he saw Quatre.

Quatre was being violently sick just outside the room. He wiped his mouth. "D-don't go in there," he said, and stumbled out of the house.

Trowa watched him, concerned, and went over to the room. Pushing the door aside with a creak, he paled as his stomach turned. There was a little girl sprawled out on the floor, her eyes open and glassy. She looked unmarked, except for the fact that her throat had been torn out and was now lying all over the room.

* * *

Heero felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Someone was watching him. To his shame, he felt himself shudder. There was something seriously wrong with this town. The tension in the air bogged everything down, so that even Heero felt himself moving slower, and even more cautiously than usual.

The sky remained an overcast granite, the sun failing to poke through. The air crackled with electricity. '_It's going to rain later,_' Heero thought dully, kicking at a bit of fallen statue. He was in what had once been a park, but the grass was brown, and the small playground was rusted. No one had played here for a very long time.

Heero recalled the old man's words. '_This city's cursed . . . everyone is hiding underground . . ._' How long could they have been hiding from this so-called curse? What could have happened here?

Heero sighed; so many unanswered questions. It annoyed him.

Something cracked behind him. He spun to look at a nightmare. He started to scream.

* * *

Duo heard someone scream from a long way off; somehow he knew it had to be Heero, though they were at least eleven blocks apart. He turned to Wufei. "Let's go!"

Wufei nodded, and the two started running. Wufei sprinted ahead, and Duo stopped for a moment, hair rising on the back of his neck.

'_Something's watching us_,' he thought.

Before he could turn, something grabbed at his back, raking sharp claws across his flesh. Duo yelled and turned, to come face-to-face with what once could have been a human.

In its day, it would have been a girl, a pretty one even. But now the face was grotesque, like wax held above fire, all melted and wrinkled and greyish-brown. Its hair was stringy and a green-yellow, barely covering the scalp. Its eyes were red and glowing, and when it opened its mouth, it showed long, sharp teeth, stained with red.

Duo raised his gun, stepping back as the thing raised its clawed hands at him once more. He fired, but between one eye-blink and the next, it disappeared, only to grab him from behind. Duo lost his grip on the gun, and the thing pounced on it, tossing it away. Duo was forced on one knee as the thing, once again, moving with inhuman speed, grabbed his neck and leaned down, opening its mouth wide to bite him.

He tried to scream, but couldn't. Suddenly the thing shrieked with mirror-shattering pitch, and let go of Duo. He stumbled away, to stare in horror as something long, wooden and pointed protruded from where the thing's heart was. It shrieked again, then turned to ashes and blew away.

Duo looked past where it had been to a figure in a long black coat. The hood of the coat was up, so that he couldn't see his or her face. The figure was holding a gun with a long barrel, perfect for holding something long and sharp. Duo reached down and picked his gun up, pointing it at the figure. "Who are you?" he asked, trying to keep the hysterics out of his voice. "And what the hell was that thing?"

The person lowered the gun. When she spoke, the voice was low, but unmistakeably feminine.

"We are not safe here," she said. Duo heard screams in the distance, screams that couldn't be human. "They know when one of their own kind is killed. They'll attack this place and kill those who remain." She turned, only to find a sword at her throat.

"Don't move, kisamaa," Wufei said. "Duo, what happened?"

Duo put his gun away. "Relax, Wufei. I think we can trust her." He walked over to where the two were standing. "And I don't really want to be around if more of those things are showing up, so can we please leave?"

"What do you mean, 'more of those things'?" Wufei asked. Duo shook his head.

"Later, man."

Wufei put his katana away with great reluctance, eyeing the woman with suspicion. She made no comment on his aggression, simply brushed past him and started walking briskly. Duo and Wufei followed.

"Wait—one of our friends may be in trouble," Duo said.

"Yes, I heard his scream. He was foolish to travel alone."

"I see you are," Wufei snapped.

"I always travel alone."

"So does Heero."

"Fine. I don't have time to debate with you. We need to get underground. It is almost sunset."

"But what about our friends?"

The girl stopped. "How many of you are there?"

"Three. One may already be dead . . ." Duo's stomach shrunk as he thought of Heero being gone. "The other two are probably on the other side of the city."

The girl reached into her coat and drew out a walkie-talkie. Walking a few paces away, she spoke into it.

"Ash, this is Slayer. Have you seen hide or hair of two soldiers—about sixteen years old?"

The radio crackled as someone spoke into it. "Yep, they're on Snake-Elm Drive. Honestly—could they be any louder? I've already killed two zombies that were tracking them, and I think there are more."

"Bring them in, okay?"

"You want me to approach? I don't know . . . their guns are loaded."

"Use caution. Slayer out." The girl replaced her walkie-talkie and turned back to Wufei and Duo. They were staring.

"Did she call you . . . 'slayer'?" Wufei asked, an eyebrow raised.

The girl nodded. "Why?"

"We have a message for you." Duo said.

* * *

Trowa turned, rifle raised as he heard a commotion from an alleyway. Quatre put a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't shoot yet. It may be a citizen."

Trowa relaxed . . . slightly. They waited as the commotion got louder, and only raised their weapons again when a shadowy figure emerged from the depths. Quatre almost dropped his gun when the image became clearer.

It was a woman. Not that seeing a woman in a war-torn city was something strange in this time, but this woman was unlike any he had ever seen. She was tall, taller than Trowa, and also holding a buster rifle, pointed away from them. She had a black tank top on, and camouflage pants atop army boots. Around her head was a filthy rag, more to hold back her wild brown hair than anything. Around her left bicep was another rag, and that was bloody. As he studied her longer, Quatre saw that her clothing had tears in it. Pieces of cloth had been ripped away by what seemed to be claws. Big, long, sharp claws.

He thought of the little girl and swallowed. Trowa recovered from her entrance first.

"Who are you, friend or foe?" he asked in that quiet way of his.

The girl brushed her hair back, dark eyes glittering. "My name is Ashna Nightfall; call me Ash if you want. I'm your friend only if you don't fire at me first." She spoke in a cool tone and her face betrayed no emotion. Quatre shivered; '_A female Trowa_,' he thought.

Trowa nodded. "Good answer," he said. "Why were you following us?"

"I was making sure you didn't get killed. There were two zombies tracking you; I took care of them."

"How?" Quatre found his voice again, his brain sticking on the word 'zombies'. "We didn't hear any shots fired."

Ashna reached behind herself and drew out some bolas. "I got one around the neck, and the other I staked." Replacing the bolas on her belt she brought out a gun that's barrel was very long. "This baby holds whole stakes, and can kill vampires and zombies in two seconds flat." Popping out the back part, she slid a wooden stake out and held it up for the boys to see.

Both boys felt shivers run down their spine. Ashna was speaking in such a voice that made it seem she was teaching a lesson in a classroom. She was totally expressionless.

Ashna replaced the stake and looked up, all business. "It's not safe to walk the streets right now. The day's almost over, and the zombies will be out looking for victims. Come with me."

She started to turn away, but stopped as Quatre called, "But where are we going?"

Ashna shrugged. "Underground," she said. "The Slayer has invited you."

* * *

_Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. I claim copyright only to the plot, Ashna Nightfall and "the Slayer", who is to be named next chapter. _


	2. Missing Hero

_**Blood-stained Black Roses**_

**_Chapter 2—Missing Hero_**

_This chapter's title could also be "Missing Heero"—ha hah. My sorry attempt at humour at ten o'clock in the morning. _

* * *

"What message?" the Slayer asked.

"We met an old man after we entered the city," Duo said. "He said he was one that had set off all the explosions."

"Andre. . ." she whispered. "Yes—what else did he say?"

"Only to tell the Slayer that help had arrived," Wufei said quietly.

"So where is he now?"

Duo and Wufei looked at one another. Obviously she had known the man. How would she react to knowing he was dead?

"He—um. . ." Duo started, but broke off, trying to find the right words. 'Damn,' he thought. 'I was never good at public speaking.'

"He's dead, isn't he?" the woman said, so stonily that Wufei almost fell over.

"Yes . . . ah . . ." Wufei trailed off, not knowing what to say. The Slayer turned to him.

"You wonder why I can say such things without any emotion," she said. Wufei stared. "You yourself shall see soon enough. That is, if you decided to stay."

"It's not like we can leave," Duo snapped. Wufei smiled slightly.

"Yes. We have to find Heero first."

The Slayer nodded. "Come on, then. We should really get moving." And with that she turned on her heel and started walking quickly down the streets.

Duo and Wufei looked at each other again, then at the girl, and then, hearing inhuman screams behind them, followed her, with little else to do.

They were led down many a dark alley. Soon they were totally lost. The Slayer, whoever she was, had switched from her brisk pace to a jog, and was several feet ahead of them. She was tense, agitated by the growing uneasiness as the howls behind them stopped.

Duo stopped once, panting. "Hey, we can slow now—they've given up," he called. The girl stopped and turned, a hard smile on her lips.

"You've never dealt with these creatures before," she said. "The undead are coming closer. Just listen to the wind."

Duo and Wufei stopped for a moment then and their ears pricked. They could hear slight rustlings, rustling of things with rotted faces creeping closer . . . closer. . .

Wufei felt himself start sweating, and Duo's pupils contracted. Gritting his teeth, Wufei took a step forward, then another, until he was past the Slayer.

"Well, let's continue," he said coldly.

The Slayer nodded a little. "It is good to see that some soldiers still have brains in their heads." They continued down the street.

* * *

Quatre and Trowa followed Ashna through the streets, still not completely sure whether they could trust her.

"Hey, where are you taking us?" Quatre called.

"Underground," Ashna answered. "You'll meet up with your friends there."

"You know about them?"

"Yep. The Slayer herself is with two of them right now. I just hope the loner is all right."

Trowa blinked. "Heero? You were tracking him, too?"

"Sure. With the undead waltzing around—not to mention shapeshifters, were-creatures and witches—we can't take any chances on visitors." Ashna looked back at them, a smile playing on her lips.

Quatre shivered; her eyes looked almost red in the light. '_Or maybe it isn't the light_,' he thought with a jolt. '_Maybe that's—_'

His thoughts were abruptly interrupted when something clamped onto his leg. He looked down and saw a rotted hand clinging to it that appeared to have burst from the ground. He yelled with shock as an arm followed the hand and a torso and head followed that. It had once been a man, but was now no more than a living corpse, with bone showing through rotted skin. It looked up at him with a death-grin, and started to withdraw into the earth, pulling him with it.

Quatre yelled again as his legs rapidly were pulled beneath the fast-crumbling earth. Trowa had his gun raised, but didn't want to hit Quatre, so he leapt forward and grabbed his arm. Ashna ran forward, pulling a knife from her belt. She grabbed Quatre's other arm and yanked upward with inhuman strength. There was a horrible tearing sound as flesh and bone pulled apart; Quatre flopped onto the ground and yelled as he saw that half the zombie had come up with him, and was still hanging onto his leg.

"Give it up, you bastard!" Ashna muttered and brought the knife up. A minute later there was the flash of the blade and the knife had lodged itself in the thing's brain. It shuddered and the flesh turned to dust and blew away, leaving a skeleton. As Quatre got up the bones toppled off of him. Trowa squeezed his shoulder.

"You okay, Quatre?" he asked.

Quatre wheezed for a moment; his face was very pale. "Y-yeah," he managed. "But I think I'm going to be sick again."

"Can it wait?" Ashna was looking down the way they had just come. "Zombies don't travel alone. We need to move on, now." She touched Quatre's arm gently. "Can you walk alright?"

"Yes." Quatre took a deep breath and swallowed bile. "Let's go."

* * *

"Duo! Wufei!" The two heard their names called as soon as they entered the building the Slayer had led them to. They looked around and saw Quatre and Trowa entering another doorway. They were accompanied by a girl carrying a dusty knife.

"Hey, Slayer," Ashna called.

"Ash," the Slayer nodded. "I see you found them alright."

"We had some zombie problems, but other then that, we're okay. Four down, one to go."

"Huh?" Quatre said. "What's she mean by that? Where's Heero?"

Wufei remained silent as he looked away from the blond.

"We heard him screaming when we were looking around," Duo said. "We think he was taken by the undead." No one had to verify that the undead were real now.

"What?" Trowa's brow furrowed. "They even captured him?"

Quatre was shuddering with fear and anger. "We have to go and get him back." He turned to find the Slayer in his way.

"There is nothing we can do this day. Sunset is soon, and more creatures will be out. If you run off now there will be no hope," she said quietly.

"Listen to her, Trowa," Duo said. "She's the Slayer—the one the old man was talking about."

Quatre stared into the Slayer's eyes for several moments, his eyes sad, but then looked away. "You're right," he said. "We need to plan first."

Ashna nodded. "This way," she said, and led the group to a doorway; after unlocking it with a key, the group entered a small room. The walls were made of solid steel, as was the back of the door; the Slayer closed it and hit a button on the side that caused several solid metal locks to slam into place. There was only one other door across the room with an access-code terminal on it. Ashna laid her hand on the terminal; it lit up and scanned her.

"Please type in password," said a monotonous robotic voice.

She pushed several buttons and the door opened, revealing an elevator. "Everybody in."

They all entered the elevator and the doors closed. Some cranks squealed and they moved slowly downward, farther and farther into the earth. Finally the doors opened again and they all stepped out into a huge chamber.

Quatre, Wufei, Trowa and Duo all looked around in amazement. The place was huge—the ground floor stretched out before them, some passageways leading off into fathomless tunnels. There were several floors above them with people milling about. No one was really standing around; everyone had a job it seemed.

"How-how did you build this place?" Quatre asked, stunned by the magnitude of it all.

"Surprisingly, we didn't," Ashna said. "When things got really bad up there, we were led to this place by . . . others." She shot a glance at the Slayer, who remained silent. Ashna turned to the boys, a false smile on her face. "This way," she continued, leading them down a narrow hallway. "Don't worry; we'll find your friend soon enough."

The pilots followed, but they glanced at each other, communicating almost telepathically. There was definitely some tension between the two women, despite the way they seemed to be friends. Something told the boys that there were more secrets to this place that what they initially saw.

They entered a room that was mostly filled up with computers and video screens of various parts of the city. There was only one person in the room, and he was sitting in a chair, furiously typing away at a keyboard.

"Xavier!" Ashna called. "Stop pecking at that thing! We have a problem!"

The chair turned around to reveal a young man who looked to be no older than twenty, with short brown hair curling around his ears. He had brown eyes made bigger by round glasses atop a long nose. He was dressed in a blue shirt and black slacks with black sneakers on his feet.

"Problem? Oh, yeah, the guy from Outside that went off on his own," the boy said, his voice surprisingly deep.

"That's Heero," Wufei grunted.

"He's an idiot."

The temperature in the room dropped several degrees as Duo, Quatre, Wufei and Trowa all eyed Xavier with less-than-happy expressions.

Ashna rolled her eyes. "Relax; he was just kidding."

"Actually, I wasn't." The man crossed his arms. "No one should walk around a war-torn city alone."

"You don't know Heero." Duo commented ruefully.

Xavier raised his eyebrow. "Who are these guys? And why didn't you have them check their guns?" he asked the Slayer, eyeing the weapons the boys were still carrying in plain view.

She shrugged. "Didn't think it was necessary."

Xavier rolled his eyes. "You don't seem to think anything's necessary." He turned back to the computer and typed something else in. "In any case, we should probably get the introductions over with." He nodded to the boys. "I'm Xavier London."

Quatre took a seat in a plastic chair. "Quatre Raberba Winner," he said, looking like he was still having difficulty absorbing all that was happening.

Duo waved a little. "Duo Maxwell."

Wufei was still frowning at Xavier. "Chang Wufei."

Trowa was silent for a moment before grunting, ". . . Trowa Barton."

Ashna sat down on the floor. "I'm Ashna Nightfall," she said in neutral voice, cleaning her stake-gun.

The Slayer was silent the longest. Everyone was staring at her except Ashna and Xavier, who tried to look as busy as possible. ". . . Jira Busana."

"Right, now that that cheery little introduction is over—" Xavier opened a window on his computer. "—I have some bad news, Jira; Curt's dead."

"Curt? As in Curt Hutchings?" the Slayer asked sharply, pushing her hood back.

"Yeah." Xavier brought up a window on the computer. "He was in the park, trailing your missing friend—" he nodded at the four boys, "—this is what was sent back to HQ."

_:video:_

The scene opened on a park; it was decimated, just like the rest of the city, strewn with rubble and rusted benches. The image was grainy, but a figure moved slowly across the terrain. It was Heero.

"_HQ, this is Hutchings; I've spotted the stranger Robespierre picked up. It appears to be a teenage male, dressed in army colors; he is armed. He's definitely highly trained in battlefield manoeuvres; he's methodical, and silent—he's looking for something, or someone. Requesting permission to approach."_

Another voice crackled. _"Hutchings, this is HQ; request to approach denied. Continue to observe until we hear from the Slayer."_

"_Roger that, HQ."_ Hutchings continued to watch Heero from his perch on the other side of the park. Suddenly something beeped off-screen.

"_HQ, I'm picking up several undead lifeforms coming into the area—requesting immediate backup and permission to approach stranger."_

"_Keep your position, Hutchings—we're sending Maya and Krypt your way."_

"_Hang on, hang on—shit, there's a shadow demon heading for the guy—I'm going to—"_ The image went snowy and the voice crackled away.

Then everything came into sharp focus; a face of a vampire, not unlike the one that had attacked Duo, hissed at Hutchings. The barrel of his stake-gun was visible, but was knocked away by the creature.

"_Damn it!"_ There was a sound like a knife being drawn from a sheath. _"Tell Maya and Krypt to back off—shit, it's an ambush—"_

There was several more screams; one of them was Hutchings as he was pushed forward. The camera went into the dirt, and after a few seconds of indeterminable sounds, the screen went snowy again.

_:end video:_

Jira swore and pulled off her jacket, throwing it savagely into another chair. Straight black hair fell to her waist, and as she paced back and forth it floated in the air behind her. She had a nicely-shaped face, with green almond-shaped eyes and a light tan. She was wearing black pants with a black tank top, and black boots were on her feet. From her belt hung a stake-gun like Ashna's, as well as several throwing-knifes and a dagger that's blade went to her knee.

Ashna winced as she watched her friend. "Jira, it isn't your fault that he's dead," she said softly.

"Yeah, I know that." Jira stopped and pushed a strand of hair off her face. "But you know I still feel responsible." There was an uneasy silence as Ashna looked away. "Is there anything else that happened while I was gone, Xavier?"

"No, that's it. We were going to send out people to retrieve the body, but. . ." he trailed off. "Anyways, it's not this hasn't happened before—vampire kills Slayerette, takes young flesh back to its layer—"

"Are you saying Heero is. . ." Quatre trailed off, very pale.

"No." Ashna stood. "He won't be dead. At least not yet. Vampires are very careful about their meals, especially when they can't get fresh meat everyday."

Trowa frowned. "So what is the deal with these things?" he asked. "These . . . undead. I mean, I've seen some movies, and usually vampires sleep during the day."

"A common misconception," Jira said. "Vampires can walk around during the day, but it needs to be cloudy. Unfortunately, some of the witches that are also in the city can control the weather. We hardly ever see the sun anymore."

"Anyways," Xavier said loudly. "The more important thing is your friend. What's his full name?"

"Heero Yuy," Duo said.

Xavier blinked. "Wasn't that a pacifist leader? Come on, give me a real name."

"That is the only name we know him by," Wufei said, his voice hard. He put one hand on the handle of his sword.

Xavier blanched. "Okay, Heero Yuy." He typed on his computer. "And you're sure that that was him on the video?"

Trowa sighed irritably. "What good is this going to do?" he asked. "Those . . . things could be doing. . ." An uncomfortable silence. ". . .whatever to him out there and we're just sitting around."

Xavier sighed. "Yes, well. . .if we get his description out, the Slayerettes will find him eventually."

"Yeah, eventually my ass," Ashna spoke up. She glared at Xavier. "You know as well as I do that if the Slayerettes found him on the streets, he would be dead. Vampires only give up their meals once it's of no use."

Quatre thought about the little girl he had found and shuddered. "Isn't there anything you can do?" he asked. Ashna looked at him pityingly.

"Don't worry," she said softly. "We'll find him."

"Don't get too ahead of yourself, Ashna," Xavier said. "The truth of the matter is, we can't do anything else today. It will be too dangerous with the sun already down."

"Then I'll find him," Ashna snapped, turning.

"Don't, Ashna," Jira said, voice hard. "Don't you dare."

Ashna glowered at her. "Don't give me orders—you know I could probably track them down right now."

"Yes, but I also know you aren't that stupid."

The Gundam pilots stared at each girl, who were standing in a way that could only be called confrontational; neither of them would back down.

"Um, ladies? I think we can find this guy without any sacrifices." Xavier was sweating, but smiling slightly; obviously this wasn't the first time this had happened. "You know, this would be so much easier if he had a homing device on him."

Ashna turned and laughed. "Yeah, right. Like some random soldier is going to have a homing device clipped to his shirt! Come on, Xavier!" She snorted and smacked him on the shoulder.

"Well, it's worth a try," Xavier said, pouting a little. "So, boys—does Heero have a homing device on him?"

"No," the four boys said at the same time.

Ashna smothered more laughter; Xavier shrugged.

"But he does have a homing device in his gun!" Duo said brightly.

Ashna stopped laughing and her jaw dropped open. Xavier's glasses slid down his nose a little.

"You're kidding," he said.

Duo shook his head. "Heero always did say that it would come in handy someday!"

Trowa shook his head, smiling a little. "That's the perfect soldier for you."

Xavier turned back to the computer. Ashna leaned in beside him. "Oh please—what are the chances that the undead are going to let him keep his gun with him?" she asked.

"It's worth a try," Jira said. "Wherever they left the gun, Heero may be nearby. We have to try. These boys are here to help us, after all. The least we can do is help them."

She hopped off her chair and headed for the door, taking her coat with her. As she reached the door she was stopped by Trowa.

"Wait a minute!" he said. "We're coming with you!" Behind him the other pilots stood. "We want to help save Heero."

Jira stared at him, her green eyes X-raying him where he stood. Trowa stared back. Then her eyes softened.

"You boys really care about each other, don't you?" she said so that only he could hear.

He smiled a little. "We've been working together for nearly a year. We're like brothers now."

Jira nodded. "And nothing is more important than family." She had a sad look in her eyes, one that all the pilots caught. Then they clouded into hardness once again and she nodded. "Come on then, boys," she said, and walked out the door. "It's time you had a lesson in Vampirism 101."

The pilots glanced at each other and then followed her. Xavier grinned and called, "Have fun!"

Ashna shook her head on her way out. "You are such a dork, Xavier!"

* * *

Heero opened his eyes to murky darkness. He was so sore, all over. His muscles were screaming with pain. He felt exhausted, but couldn't remember fighting that much today. What had happened to him?

He remembered coming into the city and meeting the old man . . . He and the others had split up and he had gone off by himself again. . . Then what? Suddenly it came to him—that face, that nightmare face . . . he squeezed his eyes shut and forced himself to breath calmly. He was the perfect soldier; falling into a nightmare couldn't scare him.

As he filled his lungs with dusty air he assessed the damages. He was shackled to some sort of table by his wrists and ankles. His legs felt battered; someone had probably dragged him along the ground after he passed out. His chest felt like it had been slashed, and as he looked down at it his eyes widened. It had indeed been slashed, but by tiny claws, claws that Heero didn't think could belong to anything natural. His arms were covered with similar cuts. He laid his head back and closed his eyes; he was so tired, but to go to sleep now would most likely mean death.

He heard scuffling to his right; he looked over and saw a hunched over little dwarf leering at him. Its face was wrinkled and looked like it had been melted, and its pupils were red. It hissed at him as it secured the bonds on his wrist, showing fangs that gleamed in the dim light. Then it shuffled away, tittering under its breath.

Suddenly there was a figure standing beside him. He looked up and saw a beautiful woman. So beautiful, in fact, that he knew that she somehow couldn't be human. Her skin was too flawless, her body too perfect, her smile too sweet. She was dressed in a blood red dress that hugged the curves of her body; the neckline swooped down embarrassingly. She leaned over him, bringing her face closer to his.

"Well," she said in an alluring voice. "What do we have here?" She smiled, showing pointed incisors. Heero blinked.

"Where am I?" he asked in an expressionless voice.

The woman smiled. "You are in my palace. Well—it can't exactly be called a palace I suppose, but I'm working on creating one in this little town." She laughed in a silvery tone. "By the way, my name is Lady Hestia. And you are?"

"Heero Yuy." Heero continued to keep his face in a schooled mask. "Why was I brought here?"

Hestia grinned. "To be my puppet." She leaned over him again, fixing his eyes with her own blue ones. Heero blinked again; her eyes were so cold and icy, and something inside them suggested he was in big trouble.

"Now, Mr. Yuy—if it isn't totally cliché—" Hestia laughed again. "Look into my eyes . . . and forget all your mortal thoughts."

Heero tried to look away, but couldn't; he couldn't even blink. His mind was frozen, and suddenly all there was in the world was Lady Hestia. He opened his mouth to yell for help, but no words issued. Hestia laughed again.

"So, you are a Gundam pilot," she said. Heero's heart went cold. She could read his mind? "Yes, of course I can, dear," Hestia said coolly. "I am the queen of vampires, after all." She lifted one manicured nail that was two inches long. "And speaking of vampires, I'm quite hungry. I think your energy will be most delicious." She slid her nail across his chest.

Heero shuddered; the nail was razor sharp, and left a line of red in its path. His blood leaked out, and Hestia leaned down to lick it off. When she was finished she touched it again and the wound sealed itself, leaving a blue scar. Hestia smiled.

"I was right," she said. "You taste wonderful. I'll have to save you." She turned and began to walk away. "Hopefully you'll last at least a month."

Heero had a cold feeling in his chest; he had been close to death quite a few times in his life, but this—this was something entirely different. He had no idea what was going on, and that scared him most of all.

* * *

_Okay, chapter two of this sad-story-slowly-becoming-better-story completed. If you're still confused, sorry. Hopefully in the next chapter things will start to make sense. (You know, I think I always say that ;;)_

_And just in case you're interested, I'm using Lady Hestia's character in another of my stories—an original fic called "Broken Fayth" that is on my fictionpress account (my username's on my bio if you're interested). Only in that story her name's Lady Astarte—I was going to change Hestia's name in this story, but decided to keep it for. . .old time's sake :reminisce, reminisce:_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. I only own Jira Busana, Ashna Nightfall, Xavier London, Lady Hestia, and all the creepy undead thingies. I also own the city they are in and the plotline. _


End file.
